Here's a short excerpt from this morning's Cougar Sports Weekly, in which I spend about 1,200 words examining WSU's new defensive coordinator Mike Breske. I spent some time talking with the beat reporter who covers Montana football for the Missoulian to get some first-hand knowledge of Breske's tendencies, as well as dug into some of the advanced statistics from his time as defensive coordinator at Wyoming.

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One thing Neighbor said Breske always relished was the opportunity to draw up a blitz the opponent had never seen before, something he tried to do each week. One of his more creative moves this past year was a cornerback blitz. If that doesn't seem creative, consider this: Montana All-American CB Trumaine Johnson was so good, opponents almost never threw his way. After a month of that, Breske decided to start to use Johnson as a blitzer, figuring teams wouldn't design plays to that side, anyway. The result was a safety against Montana State and another near safety later on.

I also spent some time tearing Ken Bone to shreds for his decision to employ a 2-3 zone for three fourths of the game against Colorado and recapping the weekend for WSU women's basketball. Boooooo heartbreaking basketball losses.

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In case you want more thoughts on last night's train wreck against Oregon, here's an excerpt of today's email newsletter at Cougar Sports Weekly. Subscription info here; as usual, if you've never seen it, please request a complimentary copy at admin(at)cougarsportsweekly(dot)com.

When Oregon fans are saying they had no reason to expect what happened last night, you should believe them -- this was as out of the blue for them as it was for us. Of course WSU did a lot of things wrong, but Oregon did something to the Cougars that they weren't able to even come close to doing against the three previous terrible opponents they played. The Ducks, shooting 36 percent from three coming in, hit 9-of-16 out there for nearly 60 percent. A number of teams, including Oregon, probably would have trouble replicating that against air.

The other thing that I think is getting lost is that the offense, while not spectacular, was good enough to produce a victory on most nights. The Cougars scored at a 1.07 points per possession clip, and that's a rate they maintained pretty much the whole night -- it really wasn't the product of garbage time points. If WSU does that every night (which they won't, but I'm trying to make a point here that offense was fine last night), they're going to win more games than they lose the rest of the way.

Now that I've hopefully talked you down off the ledge a little bit, here are a few things that I do think you can take away from this game.

The newsletter also had my quick preview on what to expect against Oregon State tomorrow.

Here's an excerpt from this morning's Cougar Sports Weekly, in which I broke down one of the staples of Mike Leach's Airraid playbook, Blue Right 92, more commonly known as "mesh." You can find subscription information here. I might also point out that a subscription to CSW makes a lovely holiday gift.

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The two basic ways to beat a defense throwing the ball are by stretching it either vertically or horizontally. In this particular play, the name "mesh" comes from the crossing of two receivers, which seeks to stretch the defense horizontally. The play can be run equally well against man-to-man or zone.

The first read for the quarterback is the Z receiver, who runs a corner. Defenses often will recognize mesh, but if they try to jump the short routes, the big play will be available. If it's not there because they've played the deep route honestly, then the mesh comes into play.

The key here is the confusion caused by the X and Y crossing each other. It requires seamless communication from the defense to pass off a receiver from one defender to another, and since it's usually a pair of linebackers -- for whom coverage is not their strength -- someone usually ends up free. Against a typical 4-3 defense, the MLB has to pick either the X or Y to cover, as the OLBs are respecting the H and F. There's almost always a gap in the zone to be exploited by the X or Y -- or both, if the MLB can't make up his mind in a split second.

Big point: This play is a great example of how there's almost always someone open. That's magic of Leach.

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The most mind-boggling thing for me at this point is the way WSU had yet another quarterback step in and throw the ball all over the field like it's no big deal. Trust me. It's a big deal. A huge deal.

Look at how many teams in the Pac-12 are struggling to get competent play out of even one or two quarterbacks. WSU has gotten it out of three, including a redshirt freshman turning in the best performance of all. Cal, Utah, Colorado ... they'd all take any of WSU's quarterbacks as their starter right this second. And I think there are at least a few more that would love to have one backup the quality of Marshall Lobbestael or Connor Halliday, let alone both those guys.

What impressed me most about Halliday on Saturday wasn't the laser show coming from his right shoulder. I already knew he could do that -- I saw those throws when he was leading Ferris to the state championship game two years ago. What I didn't know was whether he'd have the requisite command of Todd Sturdy's offense, which relies an incredible amount on the quarterback being able to identify the defense and get the offense into the correct play and protection. In his first start, he looked like an old pro.

Even the biggest Sturdy critic now has to acknowledge this basic fact: Sturdy, who also is the quarterbacks coach, must be one hell of a teacher.

This week's newsletter also included a recap of the soccer team's victory in the NCAA tournament and my preview of Gonzaga-WSU. If you'd like a peek at what you'd be signing up for, shoot me an email at admin@cougarsportsweekly.com and I'll gladly forward you a complimentary copy of this morning's newsletter so you don't have to miss out on the fun.

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Here's part of what you missed if you don't subscribe to my newsletter:

One thing statistics have shown us is that rebounding percentages usually hold pretty steady for a player over his career; you rarely see huge jumps in the rate at which they secure rebounds. While coaches can teach technique all day, rebounding is one of those things where you either have a nose for the ball, or you don't. And Motum has demonstrated he just doesn't.

Which brings us to Saturday. Motum played 21 minutes. LCSC shot 30 percent from the field. LCSC trotted out a lineup with nobody taller than 6-foot-6. Motum was only able to grab one defensive rebound -- a paltry 6 percent of available defensive rebounds while he was on the floor. It's not for lack of effort. Motum plays hard. But he just doesn't seem to have whatever it is that allows guys to go get the ball.

It's probably best to come to peace with the idea that Motum will always be a below average rebounder, and just hope and pray that he can offset it with some truly stellar offense, because he's going to see a lot of minutes. Ken Bone has no choice.

I also took a look at the piece from Cougfan a couple of weeks ago where a couple of NFL scouts said the talent was improved at WSU and analyzed whether some key metrics reflected an actual improvement in the on-field results.

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In case you've wondered exactly what you'd get with a Cougar Sports Weekly subscription, I actually send out newsletters more than weekly -- I send out three a week. (Yes, I know this doesn't technically make it weekly, but hey -- just trying to give the customer value for the price!)

Anyway, here's a short excerpt from Wednesday's edition, which I thought might spark some discussion here. The newsletter also included the mailbag, where I delve into subscribers' questions:

It's been suggested by some that the Cougars might actually miss DeAngelo Casto more than they miss Klay Thompson, a theory based on WSU's depth at the guard position. While I don't buy it for a minute that this team will miss Casto more than Thompson -- if Casto leaves but Thompson comes back, this team is contending for an NCAA berth, but probably not if it's the other way around; Thompson is that special -- the point is well taken that Ken Bone is going to have an awfully tough time replacing Casto.

It seems like most people are really focusing on Casto's rebounding ability, but I'd argue that's the least of the Cougars' problems when it comes to sorting out the frontcourt. Casto wasn't as good of a rebounder as he was widely reputed to be. Instead, where I think the Cougs will really miss Casto is defensively.

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I went back and looked at when the Cougars have been successful at turning their red zone opportunities into touchdowns and when they've struggled to convert, starting with the mess against UCLA. Marshall Lobbestael's interceptions on Saturday notwithstanding, being around the 20 itself isn't necessarily a problem for the Cougars; it's when the get around the 10 that things really start to become difficult.

This doesn't make WSU unique, by the way. The reason the red zone becomes difficult for teams is because the field is compressed. It's why teams that can run effectively to the tune of four and five yards a carry tend to be much more effective in the red zone. Of course, this isn't the Cougars. They're not yet a punishing rushing attack, and can't just run the ball straight ahead three times once they get to the 10 and expect to get in the end zone. In fact, this is exactly what caused them to stall out against UCLA. Instead, they're left to try and throw the ball into those exceptionally small windows, and they tend to struggle.

I'm not going to presume that I'm smarter than offensive coordinator Todd Sturdy on this one and tell him what he should do. Obviously, he's thought a lot more about how to get this team to be effective near the goal line than I have. Still, I did a little research on effective red zone strategies, and here are some ideas you might see the Cougars try to use in an effort to convert more trips inside the opponent's 10 yard line into touchdowns.

And a little more from a breakdown of Mike Ladd:

With his size (6-foot-5) and shooting ability, Ladd will be the primary candidate to replace at least some of Thompson's scoring production. He doesn't pass like Thompson, but if he can marry that sophomore three-point shot with the freshman two-point conversion, Ladd should ease some of the pain of losing Klay early to the NBA Draft.

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You might or might not have noticed that I've been posting less frequently at CougCenter. That's because I've been devoting a lot of my time to creating the best product possible for the separate venture that is Cougar Sports Weekly. Here's an excerpt from the most recent newsletter:

It's far too simplistic to try and ascribe blame to one unit for the second-half outburst of the tight ends, but I will say this: On four of the nine catches -- including two of the three TDs those guys caught -- either Deone Bucannon or Tyree Toomer were simply flat beaten from their safety spot by a tight end. And unless those two guys start playing significantly better in pass coverage going forward, this defense just isn't going to be very good.

It's tempting to just say that WSU won't face another set of tight ends like that this year, and you'd be correct in saying so. But it's not like both were simply outmuscled by Stanford's big targets; instead, they both exhibited staggeringly poor technique that allowed the tight ends to run free on multiple occasions -- technique that has also shown up in other games, notably San Diego State. It wasn't such a big issue last year, given that teams rarely had to pass effectively to beat WSU. Both were free to simply come down and tackle guys, something Bucannon especially excelled at. But now that the front seven is managing to provide at least adequate run defense, the pass defense is front and center.

This is my worry: That other teams are going to see this and be able to exploit the safeties in one-on-one coverage, undermining all the good things that are going on in front of them.

Beginning Monday, Cougar Sports Weekly will continue on as a paid subscription. CSW is part of my grand plan to eventually again become a full-time writer -- something CougCenter just does not yet afford on its own. If you like the work that I do and want to support the time it takes to produce it, you can sign up for a subscription here. The cost is $1.99 monthly or $19.99 annually, and it gets you three mailings a week during football and basketball seasons: The main Cougar Sports Weekly on Monday mornings, a Mailbag feature on Wednesdays, and a Pac-12 weekend preview on Thursday or Friday (depending on if there's a Thursday night game). You'll probably get two mailings a week during the offseason, from April to August, but I haven't quite decided what that will look like. (It'll probably include a fair amount of Cougar baseball, though.)

If you're not already on the free list and want to check out the last two free mailings, you can sign up for them here. And if you're not already on the free list but just want to see a full copy of the main Monday newsletter, hit me up with an email at admin@cougarsportsweekly.com and I'll be happy to send you the most recent one.

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